


Hannibal My Wendigo

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Character Death, Violence, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 20:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6673624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just a riff on the odd fairy tale "Hans-My_Hedgehog"  http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm108.html  In this riff, Hannibal is born an odd monster and goes off to find his fortune by helping unfortunate travelers in return for the first thing that comes out of their castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hannibal My Wendigo

Once there was a peasant and a wife who were childless. They had plenty of pigs and land yet were missing the one thing they felt would make them complete. The peasant was reckless enough to say that he would not care what kind of child he had as long as he had one.

Unfortunately soon after, his wife gave birth to something dark and fearful looking. As terrified as they were, they feared killing it more. So they fed it, kept it warm but did nothing more. Any normal child would have died but he didn't die. They knew not what he was. 

One day, the peasant planned to go to a fair and asked his wife what she would like. She replied that she would like some meat, some bread and things for the house. He asked Hannibal, the name they had given the odd monster that had crawled from his wife's womb, what he wanted. The horned beast said that he would like a violin and a herd of pigs so he could make his way in the world. The peasant agreed readily and returned with what had been requested.

Hannibal went into the woods and sat high up in the tree, tending his herd and playing his fiddle. Occasionally, he would come down to feast on one of his pigs and the occasional unwary traveler.

A king from the land of Verger once became lost in the woods. He went towards the music hoping to meet someone who knew the way out only to be shocked to see who was playing. However, he asked Hannibal if he knew the way home. Hannibal replied that the king would have to promise him the first thing that greeted him at the royal court upon his arrival home. He even had a beautiful handwritten contract already drawn up. The king scrawled a fake name on the contract and after receiving directions from Hannibal, went home only to be greeted by his son Mason. His daughter Margot was unable to greet him as she had been tied up and beaten unconscious by her brother in her bedroom. 

The king had a feast and made light of the fact that he had no plans to hand his male heir to a beast and laughed at having gotten something for nothing. Mason also laughed because he knew that if the beast did show up, Margot would be given to the beast and not him.

Meanwhile, another king from the land of Bal-Ti-Mor was lost in the woods and he also met Hannibal. "What is it that you want from me?" said King Jack as he was smart enough to know that one could not get something for nothing. 

"I merely want the first thing that greets you when you arrive at court," said Hannibal.

"It could be a person."

"It might very well be. That is my price. You've already been lost for a week and not any closer to home. Think of what the worry will do to the ones waiting for you at home."

After being reminded of his wife, Jack signed his name on the contract and Hannibal kept his promise and showed him the way out.

When King Jack came home, his ward Will greeted him as Jack had no children and his wife was just getting over her illness. King Jack told Will what had happened and what had been promised. Will sighed but nodded and said, "If I am to be his servant, I will go with him." 

Now Hannibal went to the kingdom of Verger. However, the king was a most treacherous bastard who ordered that anybody who looked like Hannibal should be killed. However, he was not easy to kill and managed to get a hold of the king, who then ordered that Margot be prepared to be given over to him along with servants, a dowry and a carriage to take her and Hannibal away.

The king had thought he had protected his son from the monster. However, Hannibal had been horribly insulted by the rudeness of the king. So he stopped the carriage just outside the city, and said that he planned on punishing her for her family's treachery. Margot wept and said that it was her brother and not she that had been the one who had greeted their father first but that she had been given to Hannibal with the threat that she would be given more scars if she refused to go with him. To prove her point, Margot showed him all the ones her brother and father had already put on her back. Understanding that she was telling the truth, he felt a soupcon of compassion for her and knew that hurting her would only please the people who had so disrespected him. Leaving the carriage, he went to the woods, took his many pigs and had them attack the castle. The pigs surrounded the evil king and his son, consumed them and soon turned them into poop. Once that was done, he ordered his pigs to go back to the woods and told the princess she was free to do as she pleased and he had no plans of ever bothering her again.

He went to the second kingdom where King Jack greeted him and threw him a feast with Hannibal sitting at the same table as him and Will and Bella. Even though Hannibal turned out to be quite witty and knowledgeable, it was impossible to ignore his strange appearance and conversation was strained. 

"Will greeted you first?" said Hannibal.

"Yes," said Jack. "My wife had been ill before I left the castle and my ward here came down to tell me of her condition."

"I think it would have been more honorable of you to ask for a monetary reward," said Bella. She had heard from her husband what he had promised and she was not pleased.

"I had no need for one," said Hannibal.

"I am quite capable," said Will. "I will work for you as hard and as loyally as I served the king."

"I do not want a servant. I want a spouse."

Will turned a ghastly color. 

"He's not my heir," said King Jack, hoping that information would dissuade the strange beast from his intent. The last thing Will needed was a misinformed gold-digging monster intent on ruling the kingdom.

Hannibal drank a glass of wine. "Tonight before I go to bed, I will be shedding my skin. You must throw it into the fire and keep me from snatching it back. Once it's consumed, I will attain human form permanently. However, in order for it to work, I must be married."

"So, you're saying this will lift your curse," said Will, looking slightly more cheered.

Hannibal smiled. 

"I see," said Jack. He turned to his servants Beverly, Jimmy and Brian. "You will be assigned this task along with Will this night. "Go now and get the fireplace ready."

There was a roaring fire in the large fireplace of the guest bedroom and a cord of word next to it by the time Hannibal and Will had finished the simple and rushed ceremony. As Hannibal stepped over the threshold, he began peeling off his dark skin and doffed his horns. Will snatched it all up and threw it into the fireplace. Brian and Jimmy threw wood on top of the skin and used bellows to make the fire hotter while Beverly kept an eye on Hannibal to keep him from interfering. Hannibal turned toward the fireplace as if to snatch it back only to have Will tackle him and shove him on the bed then struggle to keep him from getting up. 

"The horns are finally burning," said Brian after half an hour had passed. The skin had turned to ash but the horns had taken longer.

Jimmy looked over his shoulder from working the bellows. "How long will they be wrestling on the bed?"

"I don't think they're wrestling . . . Just keep the fire going," said Beverly.

In the morning, Jack was terribly surprised but pleased to find that what Hannibal said had indeed come true. After a proper wedding, Jack gave them an estate next to the sea and the titles of Count. 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> The original fairy tale was even stranger in that the protagonist was half man half hedgehog and his musical instrument of choice was bagpipes. He also rode a rooster that was shod by a blacksmith. Also the hedgehog didn't eat people. I just felt a violin would be more in keeping with Hannibal and I thought that riding a rooster was a bit much. 
> 
> While it's true Mason Verger is much more connected with pigs, pigs are part of the fairy tale and Hannibal is noted for seeing his victims as sounders and pork. 
> 
> Some people in the past let their pigs go wild and forage for themselves and only later track them down for butchering.


End file.
